The Davao Prison and Penal Farm (formerly the Davao Penal Colony or Dapecol), the country's oldest penal colony located in Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte, is now secured with modern facilities.
Davao Prison and Penal Farm superintendent Venacio J. Tesoro, at a press conference here recently, assured the penal colony is secured like the entrance of the detention facility now with rigged security cameras and motion sensors that reduce incidents of jailbreaks.
Tesoro said the penal colony only has a total of 150 guards. The ideal ratio would have been one guard for every 10 inmates. But, in this case, it is closer to one guard per 39 inmates.
In this regard, Tesoro said "let technology do the work."
"Lack of manpower can easily be resolved with the help of technology," he said.
Tesoro said nine more will be installed for a total of 10 security cameras and motion sensors. One security camera is like having 10 guards keeping watch.
He said of the 5,800 inmates, 2,000 are classified under maximum security or those serving a sentence of 20 years and above; 2,500 are medium security or those whose sentences are below 19 years; 1,100 inmates classified as minimum security, plus 200 women in the women's correctional at the Juan Acenas Sub-Colony in neighboring Sto. Tomas, Davao del Norte.
Tesoro said the penal colony is also providing a work program for its minimum security inmates partnered with the Tagum Agricultural Development Company, Inc. (Tadeco), which is owned by the Floirendo family, to allow prisoners to work in its banana plantation located inside the 5,212 hectares jail compound.
In exchange, Tadeco gets to use part of the penal farm's land as banana plantation area.
Tesoro said inmates who are part of the work program remain to be the breadwinners of their families earning P261 a day from manual work in the plantation. The work program applies only to women and men inmates who are classified as minimum security prisoners.
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